I’ll be at the Draft in NYC next Thursday for Day 1. Big Fuelis bringing in a couple of bloggers with VIP credentials, and thanks to John Fennelly over at SNY, we’ll be covering the draft live from Radio City. Follow Me on Twitter. I’ll be sending out tweets, will be getting good buzz from Pete and Wonder, and will pass along info from inside the venue.

Big Fuel does social media for all of GM’s car properties and there is a lot of overlap with the NFL. They are a marketing and communications company that takes brands from Content To Commerce™. Big Fuel offers a unique approach that bridges “people stories” to “product stories” through social media and branded content. The company works with brands and agencies to deliver guaranteed and measurable consumer engagement.

The big news yesterday was that a splinter group of ~70 players broke ranks from the main body of players, requesting a voice at negotiations. This certainly shakes things up a little bit, and makes me think we may get an agreement with more certainty due to this development. Simply stated, it breaks up the current logjam. By its nature, it certainly weakens the players. The 70 players are mid tier pros who are likely caught in between the rich players (who command interest from many teams and have the financial muscle to withstand a lockout longer) and the lower rung player (who are going to take whatever they can get to just play football. That says a lot right there. These mid tier guys cannot afford to be blowing a year, since they are in their prime and a year later could be replaced. Considering the legal route the Players Union went to, “G70″ probably wants to get back on the football field with more urgency than their current union leaders.